


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



rv^ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



t* 



LAST*STRIKE< 
TOR.MBERW. 



m 



A Semi-Political Satire 

Qn-thE Revolutionary Demands af the. " LibEral " 
FnrEign Element, 



" There are who trust to casualty for all. 
And deem no ruler moves this earthly ball ; 
With whom, as suns and changing seasons shine, 
'Tis Nature all, and not the power divine ; 
These boldly in the Temple's precincts stand, 
And touch all altars with intrepid hand. 

And are there not that mid dark poisons dwell, 
And blend the deadly bane they dearly sell? 
And yet how few of all the crimes are here 
Which daily meet the city prefect's ear." 

—Juvenal. 



Published for the Author. 

CINCINNATI, 1386. 




V 



T 






Copyright. 1886. 
All rights reserved. 



— n p******** n— 



mHE danger that threatens our 



I 



country from the influx of an 
cfS illiterate and immoral foreign 
population is no creation of poetic 
fancy. A Republic is the ideal 
form of government, but it cannot 
long flourish upon ignorance and 
corrupted morals. That element 
which would a'brogate the Sabbath, 
displace the churches with Sunday 
theaters, beer gardens and concert 



halls, and maintain a saloon on ev- 
ery corner of the street, is not the 
stuff of which great and prosper- 
ous nations are made. All coun- 
tries where such an element has 
long been predominant have lost 
the high prerogative of self-gov- 
ernment and sunk under despotic 
rule; and if such an element is 
allowed to secure the reins of 
power in the great Republic of the 
western world, it will require no 
prophet's eye to foresee the inglo- 
rious end. 

I expect to be criticised for the se- 
verity of this satire, because among 



the class it condemns are many 
of "our best citizens-" It will 
be remembered that, at a certain 
meeting held in the Cincinnati Mu- 
sic Hall, something over two years 
ago, many of "our best citizens" 
were present and gave expression 
to sentiments which culminated in 
riot, bloodshed, and the most out- 
rageous acts of vandalism that ever 
disgraced our country. These 
good men did not intend the de- 
struction of life and property, but 
by their language and their ac- 
tion they encouraged depraved, 
irresponsible characters to deeds 



PREFACE. 



of violence; and as the instigators 
of riot they should have been 
held equally responsible with the 
active perpetrators. So when men 
of influence and social standing 
advocate the desecration of the 
Sabbath and unrestricted license 
of the appetites and passions, they 
pander to the depraved tastes of 
the lowest element of human so- 
ciety, and deserve the same con- 
demnation as the outcast, in whose 
case (for want of the restraining 
influence of social responsibility) 
like principles culminate in open 
crime. I have, therefore, no com- 



punctions at placing wealth, learn- 
ing, and respectability in the cate- 
gory with poverty, ignorance, and 
disgrace, when the former advo- 
cate the same pernicious principles 
which the latter love to exemplify. 
While I write, news is brought 
that the " Squire" who aided the 
Sunday theaters of Cincinnati in 
their late contests with the Law and 
Order League, and did everything 
in his power to thwart the proper 
administration of the law, has been 
sent to the work-house by the 
Judge of the Police Court for as- 
saulting a woman while he was in a 



b PREFACE. 

drunken condition. What a com- 
mentary on the principles of the 
so-called " liberal" German ele- 
ment! The man they have used as 
a tool to sit in judgment on other 
people, himself arrested and con- 
victed of drunkenness and open 
violation of the very laws he was 
sworn to support! When a law- 
less element succeeds in placing 
law-breakers on the judicial bench 
and in other official positions, that 
they may there aid in balking the 
administration of justice, is lan- 
guage capable of uttering too 
severe a condemnation of the tia- 



PREFACE. 9 

grant outrage against the honor of 
our country and the safety of its 
institutions? 

The nation honors those vig- 
orous, industrious Germans who 
come to America, respect the laws 
of the country, and avail them- 
selves of the great opportunities it 
offers for the acquirement of a 
home, the comforts of life, and an 
honored position in society; but 
that other class of men who swarm 
from the shores of Europe, laden 
with political and social heresies, 
to take advantage of the freedom 
of our country for the purpose of 



stirring up revolution and anarchy, 
should be taught that, if the laws 
of the United States are too Puri- 
tanic to suit their ideas, they must 
return to the effete despotisms 
from whence they came. 

The Author. 



* THE; 



JthjsI jlirife |nr Jnforltj. 




|0 the far confines of the 
r%r^ Western World. 

+ Long since, Columbia her 
flag unfurled; 
With Freedom blazoned on her 

starry shield, 
She guards the trophies won on 

Glory's field. 
No foreign despot e'er disputes her 
sway, 



THE LAST STRIKE 



But crowns and thrones respectful 
homage pay. 



Long o'er the land where Right 

spontaneous teems, 
The Bird of Liberty has basked in 

Splendor's beams; 
No storms appeared his wings 

could not defy; 
No vulture dared dispute the azure 

sky 
Against his righteous claim. His 

piercing eye 
Discerned the conduct of both low 

and high; 



FOR LIBERTY. 1 3 

Saw every crime that outraged 

Freedom's law, 
And hurled offenders to the open 

maw 
Of Justice, till his lofty name was 

borne 
On Civilization's far - resounding 

horn 
To earth's remotest rim, and at its 

sound 
The oppressed arose and cast upon 

the ground 
The fetters that had bruised their 

weary bones, 
While despots looked and trem- 
bled on their thrones. 



14 THE LAST STRIKE 

But, lo, what dark eclipse now 

veils the sun! 
What ominous shades of dire dis- 
aster run 
Across the land! Columbia, fair 

and proud, 
The starry banner soon will be thy 

shroud! 
Let Fame's proud bird now to his 

eyrie fly, 
For fast the storm o'erspreads the 

darkening sky; 
The Vulture of Oppression whets 

his beak, 
Even now, with Freedom's blood 

his talons reek. 



FOR LIBERTY. 1 5 

So say the scions of Teutonic 
race 

Who in this glorious land have 
found a place, 

Far better than their Fatherland 
allowed 

To such as Fate cast in the com- 
mon crowd. 

Though blest with rights in Ger- 
many unknown, 

They say, " instead of bread 
they're given a stone." 

Hark, how their guttural voice 
stentorian calls 

For Liberty and Right from 
Turner Halls! 1 



1 6 THE LAST STRIKE 

To hear their frantic clamors, one 
might deem 

Our boasted freedom a delusive 
dream, 

And count our laws more arbi- 
trary far 

Than king's decree, or edict of a 
czar. 



Behold this poor, oppressed and 

injured band, 
What ills they suffer at the law's 

demand! 
Doomed by an evil star on every 

sod 



FOR LIBERTY. 1 7 

To bow forever to some despot's 
rod, 

First under Kaiser William's rig- 
orous law 

They felt the cords of royal ty- 
rants draw; 

Count Bismarck's censors watched 
them every hour 

Lest they should e'er presume to 
scorn his power; 

Von Moltke's marshals hurried 
them away 

To serve the Kaiser without 
thanks or pay; 2 

Yet they were free, for there no 
Sunday laws 



THE LAST STRIKE 



Opposed their revels or Gambri- 
nus' cause. 



Reared in a land where tyrants 
grind the poor, 

Where pride against ambition 
shuts the door, 

With groveling care the peasant 
plods along, 

Nor dares complain against tri- 
umphant wrong; 

For caste and social laws long 
since repressed 

The tamest hope that stirred his 
rugged breast. 



FOR LIBERTY. IQ 

There like a craven cur he licks 

the hand 
That rains oppression on his native 

land. 



Such were our " liberal " citizens 

before 
Their feet had touched Columbia's 

magic shore. 
But, lo, how soon in boastful pomp 

they stand 
Transformed from cravens to a 

war-like band! 
Freed from their native tyrants' 

grasping claws, 



20 THE LAST STRIKE 

They howl against our country's 
milder laws. 



To find a land of liberty they 
come 

To strike for freedom, glory, and a 
home, 

Where hand in hand the highest 
virtues run, 

And men from every clime be- 
neath the sun 

In peace their various crafts and 
trades pursue, 

Unwatched, unhindered by a hire- 
ling crew 



FOR LIBERTY. 21 

Commissioned under empires' 

haughty sway, 
To see that subject-slaves their 

lords obey, 
And yield a tribute from laborious 

pain 
To nourish pampered Luxury's 

royal train; 
Expend their strength for treasures 

not their own, 
And waste their years to guard a 

hateful throne. 3 



Fired by the spirit of progressive 
pride, 



22 THE LAST STRIKE 

In radiant hope they stem the 
ocean tide, 

To rear their homes where Free- 
dom's banner flies 

In the clear sunshine of Hesperian 
skies; 

Rejoicing to escape the obnoxious 
bands 

That Prussia's Medo-Persian law 
demands. 



Alas! how soon their lofty dream 

expires! 
How rude Oppression shocks their 

high desires! 



FOR LIBERTY. 23 

For scarce has Freedom's anthem 

stirred their souls 
When o'er their heads a storm of 

terror rolls, 
Presaging harsher bondage to their 

minds 
Than ever lashed Bohemian or 

Bavarian hinds, 
And sterner woes than e'er beyond 

the main 
Befel the Pole, the Prussian, or the 

Dane. 



The land they fondly hoped would 
aid their cause 



24 THE LAST STRIKE 

Is doubly cursed with Puritanic 

laws, 
That rasp their tender consciences, 

and spread 
Cordons across the paths they love 

to tread. 
Compelled an irksome day of rest 

to bear, 
Which Christian lands devote to 

praise and prayer, 
They curse the power that makes 

them moral slaves; 
And wild each self-appointed 

champion raves 
Against the state that frames a 

civil code 



FOR LIBERTY. 25 

Based on the primal laws of Na- 
ture's God. 



And still they rave and louder 
make complaint 

At daily increase of the law's re- 
straint, 

Because their new-found liberty 
does shrink 

Until its bounds "prescribe their 
meat and drink; " 

Soon civil power may rob them of 
the joys 

They have in snaring unprotected 
boys, 



26 THE LAST STRIKE 

In leading girls into temptation's 

way, 
And making Innocence to Vice 

a prey; 
May even deny that cherished 

right so dear — 
The loud - mouthed Anarchist's 

unfailing cheer — 
To drink vile whisky to absorb 

their fear, 
Or drown their woes in kegs of 

lager beer. 



So now, to give them freedom 
large and wide, 



FOR LIBERTY. 27 

Let law be crushed and Justice 
stand aside; 

Let white-robed Peace once more 
her pinions try/ 

And soar to brighter realms be- 
yond the sky; 

In Danger's fitful shades let Virtue 
hide, 

And Honor grope in darkness by 
her side; 

Let rampant Crime its horrid vis- 
age rear, 

And hideous Vice in darker forms 
appear; 

Till homes and states in anarchy 
descend, 



28 THE LAST STRIKE 

And hasten all to one inglorious 
end. 



And you, descendants of a loftier 
line, 

Whose sires the great pronuncio 
dared to sign; 

Who laid in blood the first founda- 
tion stone 

On which might rise a state with- 
out a throne; 

Will you resign the heritage of 
fame, 

Come down adorned with many 
an honored name; 



FOR LIBERTY. 



2 9 



To bribes, intrigues, and prejudice 

a prey, 
Now tamely see your glory swept 

away ? 



What means the freedom asked by 
foreign slaves 

Who swarm in hordes across the 
Atlantic waves? 

What does it mean but liberty to 
scorn 

The virtuous laws that Christian 
states adorn, 

To feed the passions of a grovel- 
ing throng, 



3Q 



THE LAST STRIKE 



To pamper vice and school the 
world in wrong; 

Transform a stalwart race to vapid 
fools, 

And make the land a "place of 
bones and skulls," 

Where drunken friends and maud- 
lin demons roam 

To sow the seeds of crime in every 
home. 



See where in yonder cot a mother 

mourns 
The wayward son who never more 

returns 



I 



FOR LIBERTY. 3 I 

To cheer her age, acknowledge 

filial ties, 
Or own a thought responsive to 

her sighs. 
Unmindful of her tears and daily 

prayers, 
Unmoved by all her woes and all 

her cares, 
With cold ingratitude he spurns 

her claim, 
Nor knows or fears the measure of 

his shame. 
To that cursed den where dupes 

and villains meet, 
With low desires, he nightly turns 

his feet, 



32 THE LAST STRIKE 

And drowns each thought that stirs 
the nobler sense 

In the vile draughts that bloody 
hands dispense. 

There thoughts obscene, in vulgar 
words expressed, 

Inflame to crime each drunken 
idler's breast; 

While fierce and horrid blasphe- 
mies arise 

Against all righteous rule in earth 
or skies. 



Why to the darkest breeding-place 
of crime 



FOR LIBERTY. 33 

Resorts the youth whose life from 
childhood's time, 

Maternal love has watched with 
ceaseless care, 

Bedewed with tears and sanctified 
with prayer? 

Because the blood-stained vam- 
pires who purvey 

To vicious tastes, and on all virtue 
prey, 

Must still have power and freedom 
to surround 

The homes where peace and hap- 
piness abound, 

And with relentless avarice steal 
away 



34 THE LAST STRIKE 

Respect, health, wealth, and honor 
day by day. 



Observe that wild, beer-bloated 

ranting fool, 
Who, mixing drinks and placing 

balls for pool, 
Complains that fanatics oppress his 

trade, 
And with their laws his dignity 

degrade! 
Hear how for "personal liberty" 

he raves, 
And calls all Christians "tyrants," 

"fools," and "knaves." 



FOR LIBERTY. 35 

What awful majesty his form dis- 
plays, 

What injured innocence his face 
portrays, 

As into muddled ears he pours his 
wrongs, 

And tells what honor to his craft 
belongs. 

How sad that puny moralists pre- 
sume 

The glory of his lofty aims to 
spume! 

Six days of every week the laws 
allow 

That he may tempt his victims to 
the slough; 



36 THE LAST STRIKE 

Six days with fiery draughts from 

Satan's bowls 
He snares in peace for unprotected 

souls; 
Six days he robs the innocent of 

bread, 
And heaps affliction on the orphan's 

head; 
Incites to arson, rape, and every 

crime 
That stains the bloody record of 

the time. 



All this yet fails his malice to 
supply, 



FOR LIBERTY. 



37 



Or his insatiate greed to sat- 
isfy; 
For him each principle of right 

must yield, 
Each voice be hushed and every 

law repealed, 
That calls for respite from his rule 

of crime, 
For even a seventh part of fleeting 

time. 
No legal hindrance day or night 

must lie 
Upon the fiends that heaven and 

earth defy; 
Week-day or Sabbath, none must 

interfere, 



38 THE LAST STRIKE 

Or rise against the sottish reign 
of beer. 



When Malice thus to Ignorance 

allied, 
Self-power their aim, and Folly 

for their guide, 
With revolution, rapine, blood, and 

fire, 
And all the friends of Anarchy 

conspire 
To hurl down Justice from his 

rightful throne, 
And raise a gory scepter of their 

own, 



FOR LIBERTY. 39 

'Tis Freedom's cloak that hides 
their fell designs, 

And high upon their crimson ban- 
ner shines 

The stolen emblem of heroic 
pride, 

Presumption's toy, but Wisdom's 
faithful guide, 

The guarded treasure of the noble 
free, 

The sacred badge of birthright 
" Liberty," 

That magic word which every soul 
inspires, 

And thrills man's bosom with con- 
tagious fires, 



40 THE LAST STRIKE 

Though Nature's hand his toilsome 

life sustains 
With scanty fare on Iceland's 

dreary plains; 
Or, lavish, showers her favors for 

his ease 
Amid the verdant isles of tropic 

seas. 



Such was the watchword of re- 
vengeful hate 

When stricken France reeled on 
the verge of fate ; 6 

When at the swift, unmerciful 
behest 



FOR LIBERTY. 41 

Of tyrant powers disguised in 
Freedom's vest, 

The turbid waves of Seine's ma- 
jestic flood 

Were tinged from day to day with 
guiltless blood, 

And many a victim of the dark 
Bastile, 

In terror's awful hour was made to 
feel ' 

That men who bold as Freedom's 
champions pose 

May be themselves its most relent- 
less foes. 

Still from the scaffold in that day 
of fear, 



42 THE LAST STRIKE 

From age to age, successive na- 
tions hear 

The most intrepid child of France 
exclaim: 7 

"O Liberty, what crimes disgrace 
thy name! " 



Then rise, ye champions of an hon- 
ored state; 

Preserve your country from im- 
pending fate; 

Like honest patriots, spurn the 
guilty prize 

Of party soil, that blinds the states- 
man's eyes. 



FOR LIBERTY. 43 

The liberty that foreign outcasts 

claim 
Is tyranny to men of honest 

fame; 
In Freedom's guise they seek with 

brazen face 
For license to enslave a nobler 

race; 
The rights for which they clamor 

loud and long 
Are the base wishes of a lawless 

throng, 
Who only seek for freedom to 

despoil 
The just prosperity of honest 

toil: 



44 THE LAST STRIKE 

"To rob your sons of Honor's cher- 
ished name, 

And drag your daughters to the 
haunts of shame. v 



When "liberal leagues" conspire 
to license crime, 

Let patriots mark the warning 
signs of time, 

And stand like heroes in the des- 
tined hour 

Till Justice spurns Presumption's 
claim to power. 

Teach foreign slaves, who to your 
borders come, 



FOR LIBERTY. 45 

To leave Teutonic heresies at 

home; 
To know that famed Columbia 

still shall be 
The home of Right, the country of 

the free, 
The brightest mark on Glory's 

shining page, 
The greatest land of earth's sub- 

limest age; 
And all who share the blessings of 

her state 
Must own the righteous laws that 

make her great. 



*^> NOTES. ^^- 



Note i — Page 15. 
Turner Halls. 

Referring to the meeting-places of the " Leagues 
for Liberty and Right." 

Note 2 — Page 17. 

To serve the Kaiser without thanks or pay. 

All German troops are bound to obey, uncondi- 
tionally, the orders of the Emperor, and are re- 
quired to take the oath of allegiance accordingly. 
The sovereigns of the more important states of the 
confederation are allowed the nominal privilege of 
appointing some of the lowest officers in the army, 
but even these appointments are subject to the 
imperial approval; consequently the individual 
states, kingdoms, and principalities have practi- 
cally no control over their own troops, and the 
soldiers are not answerable to, or protected by, 
their own home government, but solely under the 
arbitrary rule of the Emperor of Prussia. 



NOTES. • 47 

Note 3 — Page 21. 
And waste their years to gtiard a hateful throne. 

Every German is obliged to serve seven years in 
the standing army, the period of life required by 
the government being from the end of the twen- 
tieth to the beginning of the twenty-eighth year of 
the citizen's age. Three years he must spend in 
active service, and four in the reserve; after this 
he must form a part of the landwehr for five years 
more, making altogether twelve years of military 
service. 

Note 4 — Page 27. 
Let zvhite-robed Peace once more her pinions try. 

"When Peace and Mercy, banished from the plain, 
Sprung on the viewless winds to heaven again." 

— Campbell. 

Note 5 — Page 28. 

Whose sires the great promincio dared to sign. 

The Declaration of Independence. The critics 
may object to the coinage of the word promincio, 
but it is less labored than pronunciamento, and is 
probably as well sustained by etymology. 

Note 6 — Page 40. 
When stricken France reeled on the verge of fate. 
The Reign of Terror. 



48 NOTES. 

Note 7 — Page 42. 

The most intrepid child of France, etc. 

Madame Roland. Guillotined under the bloody 
regime of Robespierre and the Revolutionary 
Tribunal, she died exclaiming from the scaffold : 
" O Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy 
name ! " 

Note 8 — Page 44. 

To rob your sons of Honor's cherished name, 
t And drag your daughters to the haunts of shame. 

Any charge of loose morals against the German 
population is looked upon with distrust by a large 
class of people ; yet statistics show that in Germany, 
either taken alone or in connection with Austria 
(which is largely inhabited by Germans, and formed 
a part of the confederation until 1866), the per- 
centage of illegitimate births is greater than in 
any other important country in Europe — the 
comparatively small kingdoms of Sweden, Den- 
mark, and Portugal being the only states that 
equal it in this respect. 



,g^gjg c 



